Azerbaijan Reacts to Moscow's Criticism of "Abolition of Russian Culture"

Baku has reacted sharply to the statements of the Russian President's Special Representative for International Cultural Cooperation Mikhail Shvydkoy, which followed the dismantling of the bust of Ivan Aivazovsky in Khankendi. The head of the press service of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, Ayhan Hajizade, called Shvydkoy's statements part of a "targeted anti-Azerbaijani campaign."

Hajizade stressed that the installation of a bust of Aivazovsky, an artist of Armenian origin, by Russian peacekeepers on the territory of Azerbaijan without his consent was illegal. He called the dismantling of the monument "a logical, fair and legal step."

Rejecting Shvydkoy's accusations of a "war on monuments" and "abolition of Russian culture" in Azerbaijan, Hajizade noted that the country has a Russian theater and schools with Russian as the language of instruction, and Russian-language publications are published, while Russia lacks similar institutions and publications in the Azerbaijani language.

Baku was particularly displeased with the publication of the Russian TASS agency, which used the name "Stepanakert" instead of "Khankendi". The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry considered this an insult and recalled that the city was renamed by the Bolsheviks in honor of Stepan Shaumyan, who was involved in the mass murder of Azerbaijanis. Baku demanded that Russia stop distorting Azerbaijani toponyms, reserving the right to use the historical names of Russian settlements.

In conclusion, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry demanded that TASS officially apologize and correct the publication, warning of possible measures against the agency's activities in Azerbaijan in the event of failure to comply with the demands. After the protest, TASS replaced "Stepanakert" in the headline with "Nagorno-Karabakh".

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